Tennessee warbler

Tennessee Warbler
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Parulidae Genus: Vermivora Species: V. peregrina
Binomial name
Vermivora peregrina (Wilson, 1811)
Synonyms
Helmintophila peregrina

The Tennessee Warbler, Vermivora peregrina, is a New World warbler. It breeds in northern North America across Canada and the northern USA. It is migratory, wintering in southern Central America. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe. This bird was named from a specimen collected in Tennessee where it may appear during migration.

The Tennessee Warbler is 11.5 cm long and weighs 8.5 g. The breeding male is brown above and white below. The head is gray with a white supercilium and black eye stripe.

Females are duller, with a less contrasted head and yellow-tinged under-parts. Non-breeding and young birds are similar to the female, with first-winter birds being particularly yellow below.

The song is a series of musical notes and trills. The call is a sharp sit.

These birds feed on insects in summer, and numbers vary with the availability of Spruce Budworm. In winter they will also eat berries^[1] and nectar.

The breeding habitat is coniferous or mixed woodland, especially spruce. Tennessee Warblers nest on the ground, laying 4-7 eggs in a cup nest.

Footnotes

1. ^ E.g. of Gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba): Foster (2007)

References

• BirdLife International (2004). Vermivora peregrina. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 9 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• Curson, Jon; Quinn, David & Beadle David (1994): New World Warblers. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-3932-6

External links

• Tennessee Warbler Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Tennessee Warbler - Vermivora peregrina - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
• Tennessee Warbler Information and Photos - South Dakota Birds and Birding